DRAMA THE BOYS ARE BACK (12A) 103min ●●●●●
Based on journalist Simon Carr’s memoir of bringing up his two boys in South Australia, The Boys Are Back is a small scale but quietly pleasing drama about the difficulties of parenthood.
Executive producer Clive Owen
cannily casts himself as Joe Warr, a sport-reporter whose so-laid-back- it’s-horizontal lifestyle ends abruptly when his wife Katy (Laura Fraser) dies from cancer. As Joe struggles to reconcile the pressures of his day job with his family responsibility to six- year-old Arte (Nicholas McNulty), his plan to bring his older son Harry (George MacKay) back from boarding school in England stretches his relaxed parenting philosophy to the limit. Shine director Scott Hicks does
what he does best here and plays out a life lesson flick in a minor key, one greatly helped by uniformly warm and sympathetic performances. Owen’s trademark brusqueness gives way to something rawer, while Fraser is luminous and fragile as his lost love, and the titular boys perform without recourse to Hollywood cuteness. Although Allan Cubit’s script lacks
incisiveness, The Boys Are Back plays best as a classy tearjerker about the right (and wrong) ways to rear children. Hal Lindes subtle score and the use of the odd Sigur Rós track certainly help things along too. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 22 Jan.
Film Reviews
DRAMA PRECIOUS (15) 109min ●●●●● The Sundance and Toronto film festivals’ top prizewinner, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, arrives in the UK with a big reputation which is entirely justified. The opening quote from Ken Keynes Jr states ‘Everything is a gift of the universe’, and Lee Daniels (best known for producing Oscar winner Monster’s Ball and directing Helen Mirren as an assassin in Shadowboxer) sets about proving that this statement even applies to an abused, black, overweight and uneducated single mother with nothing but pain to live for. The central turn from Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe as the titular protagonist is mesmerising and endearing. Despite being made pregnant for the second time by her own father, Gabby fantasises about fame and fortune. Daniels shows her fantasies of being a singer and walking red carpets in dream sequences (the soundtrack that accompanies these moments is fantastic) that provide a welcome relief from a life that
resembles a Jackson Pollock painting.
Set in Harlem in 1987, it would be odd if race was not a factor, and Daniels touches upon this without being heavy-handed as Precious looks into a mirror and in the reflection sees a better-looking, lighter girl smiling back. The tone, including a gregarious voiceover from Precious, ensures that the story never descends into movie-of-the-week melodrama. The supporting cast, including musicians Lenny Kravitz and a surprising and almost unrecognisable turn from Mariah Carey, are fantastic and special mention must go to Mo’Nique (pictured) who plays Precious’ mother – her final scene is an acting masterclass that will bring a tear to the eye of the most cold-hearted spectator. Even the aesthetic is great, as stylistically Daniels borrows oranges and blues that convey a sense of emotional hardship found in jazz or blues and are reminiscent of Wong Kar Wai circa In the Mood For Love. Unexpected and moving, Precious is a gem from the projects. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 29 Jan.
ACTION/THRILLER BREATHLESS (DDONGPARI) (18) 130min ●●●●●
It’s often the most violent films from South East Asia that make it to international cinemas and that’s true of Yang Ik-joon’s Breathless. Whereas the films of Park Chan-wook, John Woo and to a lesser extent Takeshi Kitano are often so extreme that the violence becomes cartoonish, Yang’s film is so realistic it sometimes feels more like a British kitchen sink drama. The man the hand-held camera is focusing on is thug-for-hire Sang-Hoon (Yang
Ik-Joon), he’d hit you for looking at him or for sharing the same blood group as him. The movie starts with a montage of beatings before settling into a love story of sorts as Yang meets a feisty high school student (Kim Go-Bi) with an equally high zest for violence. But alas, instead of going all Bonnie and Clyde, Yang concentrates on Sang-Hoon’s family troubles, his hatred of his father and his relationship with his son. As such the adrenalin that filled the early moments is lost to clichéd conclusions about the cyclical nature of violence. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ Selected release from Fri 29 Jan.
48 THE LIST 21 Jan–4 Feb 2010